Ravenloft Domain: Orander
Orander: A Ravenloft Domain Background The lich formerly known as Bife was now reborn as the archmage, Orander. The origins of Orander date back to the Year 114 in Greyfeather history. Prince Kensak IV had traveled to the land of Oerth, the continent of Greyhawk, to make a name for himself as an adventurer, and he met the fledgling wizard, Orander, there. Orander joined the adventuring group, known as the Silver Six, and for the next three years, traveled with them, fought with them, laughed with them, battled evil with them, but deep down, he was unsatisfied with his calling. He felt he needed more. While Kensak and Brennen, the warrior and paladin of the group, gained most of the glory for slaying evil and defending the weak, Orander’s jealousy built. His magic was growing in strength, and he felt that his deeds were just as worthy as those who swung a sword. This jealousy would eventually boil over. The wizard researched the ability to continue his life as an undead, as a lich, and discovered the very recipe that would grant him that wish. Using his companions as pawns, he took this idea to them under the guise of a cure for all disease in the land, which they believed, and asked for their assistance in locating the items necessary to create this ‘elixir’. Over two months time, they have braved all of the dangers necessary to get each ingredient. In the privacy of his tower that was south of Greyhawk City, Orander made his potion that would take his mortal life and grant him a new life as a lich. On the night of a full moon, he drank this potion, thus perishing. The next night, he rose as a lich and took the name Bife. Eventually, his companions noted his absence and began to hear rumors of a powerful lich who lived in a tower to the south of Greyhawk City. Even the Council of Eight, the rulers of Greyhawk, had begun to hear of this upstart lich and asked the Silver Six, minus Orander, to investigate. The group invaded the tower, fighting a pitched battle all the way to the top, and to Orander. Here he spoke with the surviving members of the troupe, Kensak and Brennen, telling them how he duped them into aiding his evil cause. Knowing that he wouldn’t survive the fight against them, but also knowing that his phylactery was well hidden, he played upon their former friendship to grant him mercy. They granted it, but in doing so, they sealed the fate of Greyfeather forever. Bife agreed to leave Greyhawk and Oerth if they would spare him, and they felt that this was a logical step. It would solve the problem. Unknown to both, however, Bife chose Grendoth and the land of Greyfeather to escape to, but leaving his phylactery behind so that no one would ever find it. Upon Kensak’s return, he discovered his mistake and would now have to deal with Bife in his own kingdom. The two fought on a regular basis, but since Bife’s phylactery was hidden in another plane, Kensak could never defeat him utterly. Bife eventually usurped the monarchy and stole the throne for over three hundred years, but a hero rose to challenge him in the Year 822, Lord Vecter. Vecter was a death knight and a powerful one. He hated Bife and hated how he hid behind his walls while his undead army ransacked the land. He decided he would locate Bife’s phylactery so that he could defeat the lich and get rid of him so he could take the throne. While he worked behind the scenes, Vecter used three young adventurers to help him locate the phylactery, and eventually, destroy it. Vulnerable now, Vecter went right to the castle and killed Bife, utterly destroying him. But instead of taking the throne for himself, he had found love for one of the young adventurers, a lost descendant of the Kensak family line, and now he sought redemption. She ascended the throne instead of Vecter, but helped Vecter redeem himself and he was made mortal as his reward. Bife, however, was not as defeated as most believed. He ascended to the heavens to become a god in the evil pantheon and there he began to plot his revenge against Vecter. Over the course of the next thirty years, he used his godly influence, through his followers, to keep Vecter busy with various mundane chores, to protect the throne his wife sat upon. Though this was amusing to Bife, it wasn’t his plan. His plan was to destroy Samantha Kensak and then destroy Vecter, but the Overseer forbid it and this left Bife frustrated. Before he could find another way to get back at Vecter, he lost his godly powers. In the Year 855, the War of the Shadow Queen began a dark time in Greyfeather history. Just before this war, the Overseer, the Father of the Gods, removed the other twelve gods from the heavens for meddling in the affairs of mortals, leaving only himself to preside over the masses. Centuries of abuse of power had angered the Overseer and he was finished with those he considered to be gods, so he ousted them from the heavens and sent them back to the land to live out their days as mortals. For many, this was a punishment that they felt ashamed of, but for one, this was a new beginning. The God of the Dead, the lich named Bife, returned to the land with a new mission, to take control of the land that his nemesis, Kensak, loved. For ten years, he built his power base from being the lone figure in this overthrow to having a reasonably sized army of undead at his disposal. Then came the War of the Shadow Queen, and while the forces of Good massed to deal with this threat, he sent his lackeys to undermine the throne. Unfortunately for him, Gallorill Greenmantle, the wizard/psionicist who protected the one who held the crown of Greyfeather, was prepared for such an act. His network of spies alerted him to the move and he was there to stop it by use of his agents and his formidable magic. Losing more than half of his army and suffering a huge defeat, Bife grew angry and confronted Gallorill at Greyfeather Castle. Unknown to Bife, magical spells cannot be cast within the confines of the castle, which gave Gallorill a huge advantage against him, since he could use his psionics to attack the lich. Bife was defeated yet again, but not slain. He escaped with his undeath in tact, but his anger at the defeat consumed him. As he recovered from this battle, he vowed to take the throne of Greyfeather or die trying, and this alerted the Dark Powers of the demi-plane of Ravenloft. Mists rose during the overnight hours outside of the tower he had constructed upon his return and by the time the lich realized what was happening, it was too late. The land around him was much like Greyhawk, his home plane of birth. Orander Lush forests, tall peaks and farmland as far as the eye could see. But the area around his tower was dead. Nothing could grow there and the soil was poisonous. As the domain lord of the land called Orander, he held god-like powers and he reveled in that knowledge, but with great power in this land, so comes great curses. On the same day of every month, Bife is shown the visions of his greatest failures by an apparition of Lord Vecter, his greatest enemy. He must endure this torture for eight full hours, and at dawn, the skies darken and storms ravage the land for eight full hours before the sun shines again.